- Title: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Eye-Spy
- wiki: link
Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team head to Sweden to investigate a diamond robbery that was pulled off despite 54 identical decoys which is only the latest impossible robbery by a single individual. With the help of social media sites and the masses sharing the oddly-dressed diamond couriers and their immediate surroundings, Skye (Chloe Bennet) helps Coulson identify the thief as former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent (Pascale Armand) he once trained.
Leaving Skye, Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) in the van, which turns out not to be the safest place to be, Coulson and Ward (Brett Dalton) head out in an attempt to intercept Amador before she can fence the diamonds. After the attack on the van Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) sets out on her own to neutralize the threat she believes Coulson is too close to properly recognize, even after the team realizes she is being controlled by an ocular implant which transmits her every action to the former soldier’s hidden puppet masters.
With Skye temporarily hijacking the feed, Grant assumes Amador’s mission while Coulson works with his former student to try and uncover the identity of the person on the other end and give Fitz and Simmons time to remove Amador’s kill switch before her handler discovers he has been played. Although the surgery is successful, and Coulson is able to grab her handler (who was actually nothing more than another puppet on a string) the mastermind behind the plot gets the intel he wanted and manages to escape to threaten and blackmail another day.
Although Skye’s gun-handling during the attack was too screwball for the tone of the episode, the twist of Amador’s actions works well and allows Coulson to make up for a former mistake. The method of control also gives us another example of nefarious use of technology and a new mysterious adversary who works through others without ever getting his own hands dirty. Before being taken into custody at the episode’s end, Amador’s final words to May continue to foreshadow the fact that although Coulson returned from his encounter with Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the man on the Hellcarrier before the attack may not have survived.
Interesting episode, though I felt the fight between May and Amador could have had more ‘snap’ to it and should have been longer, perhaps twice as long. Seemed flat to me. They need to shell out more cash for their stunt coordinators.
Other than that, I liked the story, loved the fact that the puppeteer was a puppet himself (just ramps up the mystery factor), and the little tidbit about Coulson not being himself.